Voter Disenfranchisement

(Here is why it’s blatantly stupid to argue that closed primaries are worse than Voter ID laws. Also if you are saying this, you are almost definitely a white person living comfortably. Congratulations on your life.)

Closed primaries require that you register with a party in advance of voting in that primary. Sometimes as early as months before, sometimes the day of. The point of this is to prevent insurgent voting and so the party can choose the strongest candidate for the general election. If you are not eligible to vote in a closed primary, it’s because for whatever reason, you have not declared a party affiliation. If you don’t want to declare a party nomination, that’s fine, but you can’t be mad when that party excludes you. We also don’t let foreigner nationals vote in our elections. Finally, and most importantly, this has no effect on the general (read: real) election.

Voter ID laws are a whole different story. Requiring photo ID to vote sounds like a reasonable countermeasure to voter impersonation. Except that voter impersonation is exceedingly rare. So it’s a countermeasure to a non-issue. It’s like requiring that all Colombians own fur coats. Yeah, they would need them if it got cold, but it’s almost certainly not going to happen and many people can’t afford to buy them.

So apart from being stupid, why are voter ID laws bad? Well because not everyone has ID. And if right now you’re saying “wait doesn’t everyone have a driver’s license they can just pull out it’s no big deal,” I again congratulate you on being a rich white person. The fact is that getting government ID is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. If your situation is relatively comfortable, this seems like not a big deal, you take a half-day at work, head over to the safety deposit box to grab your birth certificate, then to the DMV, fill out a few forms, pay a couple fees, and in just a few hours you have a government photo ID. But what about a poor single mom with two minimum wage jobs working to support her kids? Can she afford to take a half-day from work? And spend money on fees to get the necessary documents? (hint: she probably can’t) What if she shows up and discovers that her ID isn’t sufficient and will have to take even more time off to get other documents? (At a later time I may research exactly what it takes and costs to get the necessary ID) And of course, these poor people who can’t afford to get the ID they need? yeah, disproportionately minorities.

So in summary, you missed the primary because you didn’t check a box on a form, she misses the general because she is too poor to afford getting the required ID, despite unquestionably being eligible to vote. Check your privilege.

Voting and more

It has come to my attention that some people think that voting on principle is enough to show a good congressional record. That is the opposite of the case, and here’s why (very briefly):

The role of Congress is to create laws, ostensibly to improve the country. The only way Congress can affect the country is through legislation.

Therefore if you are in Congress and believe something would make the country better, you write legislation to that affect and try to have it passed. Or someone else writes it and you cosponsor it. And then you fight to pass it. This does not mean you just come in and vote. That’s not enough. You have to help proponents of the bill or resolution accumulate enough votes to get it passed (this is called “whipping votes”). If you really believe in something, there is no excuse for not doing this. Now why isn’t voting enough? Well it’s because if you’re on the losing side, your vote basically didn’t count. Yeah you can show your credentials and your beliefs, but on a real level, only the votes on the winning side mattered. Either the legislation passes or it doesn’t. How many votes it got or whose votes they were make NO DIFFERENCE to the people the legislation affects.

 

Twitter Harassment Gave Me Hope

Recently I was subjected to some verbal abuse on twitter. It stung a little, but I’m a pretty secure person and random trolls don’t really get to me with personal attacks. However, I was pissed, and I believe that people should be held accountable for their actions, so I reported him to twitter and asked my followers to do the same. The outpouring of support I received in less than a day (at the time of writing, that tweet is 15 hours old) was incredibly heartening. It built me up far more than that small, cruel person could ever tear me down. And it made me hopeful. Yes the original exchange shows there are still ignorant and mean people in the world, the support I received shows how far we’ve come. I was attacked in a homophobic way and received kind words and support from a huge diversity of people. That’s amazing. The fact that I as a Gay person can surround myself with supportive people, including supportive straight people, is an incredible testament to the progress we’ve made. Not that long ago such a thing would be completely unthinkable. This is not to say that homophobia is not alive and well in the world, it certainly is; but that I can find such a broad network of support is incredible. Thank you for being good people.

One final thought: I received not a single tweet defending what was said to me and the person who said it. Not one.

UPDATE: Trump troll posted meme against Bernie and Hillary. Or Bernie troll against Hillary. I don’t know. Blocked. Seemed like general spam so sticking with saying there were no defensive tweets.